United States

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United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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For other uses, see US (disambiguation), USA (disambiguation), and United States
(disambiguation).

United States of America

Flag

Great Seal

Motto:
"In God We Trust" (official)[1][2][3]
Other traditional mottos [show]
Anthem: "The Star-Spangled Banner"

Menu
0:00

The contiguous United States plus Alaska and Hawaii in green

The United States and its territories

Washington, D.C.
Capital

38°53′N 77°01′W38.883°N
77.017°W

New York City
Largest city

40°43′N 74°00′W40.717°N
74.000°W

Official languages
Recognised
regional languages

None at federal level
List[show]

National language

English[b]

Demonym

American

Government

Federal presidential
constitutional republic

- President

Barack Obama

- Vice President

Joe Biden

- Speaker of the House

John Boehner

- Chief Justice

John Roberts

Legislature

Congress

- Upper house

Senate

- Lower house

House of Representatives

Independence from Great Britain
- Declared

July 4, 1776

- Recognized

September 3, 1783

- Constitution

June 21, 1788

- Current Statehood

August 21, 1959
Area

- Total
- Water (%)

9,857,306[4] km2 (3rd)
3,805,927[5] sq mi
2.23
Population

- 2014 estimate
- Density
GDP (PPP)

318,968,000[6] (3rd)
34.2/km2 (180th)
88.6/sq mi
2013 estimate

- Total

$16.768 trillion[7] (1st)

- Per capita

$53,001[7] (10th)

GDP (nominal)

2013 estimate

- Total

$16.768 trillion[7] (1st)

- Per capita

$53,001[7] (9th)

Gini (2012)

HDI (2013)

medium · 39th (2009)
0.914[9]
very high · 5th

Currency

United States dollar ($) (USD)

Time zone

(UTC−5 to −10)

- Summer (DST)

a.

36.9[8]

(UTC−4 to −10[d])

Drives on the

right[e]

Calling code

+1

ISO 3166 code

US

Internet TLD

.us .gov .mil .edu

^ English is the official language of at least 28 states; some sources give higher
figures, based on differing definitions of "official".[10] English and Hawaiian are
both official languages in the state of Hawaii. French is a de facto language in

the states of Maine and Louisiana, while New Mexico state law grants Spanish a
special status.[11][12][13][14] Cherokee is an official language in the Cherokee Nation
tribal jurisdiction area and in the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians
based in east and northeast Oklahoma.[15][16][17]
^ English is the de facto language of American government and the sole
language spoken at home by 80 percent of Americans aged five and older. 28
b.

states and five territories have made English an official language. Other official
languages include Hawaiian, Samoan, Chamorro, Carolinian, Spanish and
Cherokee.
^ Whether the United States or China is larger has been disputed. The figure
given is from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's The World Factbook. Other

c.

sources give smaller figures. All authoritative calculations of the country's size
include only the 50 states and the District of Columbia, not the territories.
^ See Time in the United States for details about laws governing time zones in
d.

the United States.
e.

^ Except U.S. Virgin Islands.

The United States of America (USA or U.S.A.), commonly referred to as the United
States (US or U.S.), America, and sometimes the States, is a federal republic[18][19]
consisting of 50 states and a federal district. The 48 contiguous states and Washington,
D.C., are in central North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is the
northwestern part of North America and the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the midPacific. The country also has five populated and nine unpopulated territories in the Pacific
and the Caribbean. At 3.80 million square miles (9.85 million km2)[20] and with around 318
million people, the United States is the world's third- or fourth-largest country by total area
and third-largest by population. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and
multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries.[21] The
geography and climate of the United States is also extremely diverse, and it is home to a
wide variety of wildlife.
Paleo-Indians migrated from Eurasia to what is now the U.S. mainland around 15,000 years
ago,[22] with European colonization beginning in the 16th century. The United States
emerged from 13 British colonies located along the Atlantic seaboard. Disputes between
Great Britain and these colonies led to the American Revolution. On July 4, 1776, as the
colonies were fighting Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War, delegates from
the 13 colonies unanimously issued the Declaration of Independence. The war ended in
1783 with the recognition of independence of the United States from the Kingdom of Great
Britain, and was the first successful war of independence against a European colonial
empire.[23][24] The current Constitution was adopted on September 17, 1787. The first ten

amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to
guarantee many fundamental civil rights and freedoms.
Driven by the doctrine of manifest destiny, the United States embarked on a vigorous
expansion across North America throughout the 19th century.[25] This involved displacing
native tribes, acquiring new territories, and gradually admitting new states.[25] The American
Civil War ended legal slavery in the country.[26] By the end of the 19th century, the United
States extended into the Pacific Ocean,[27] and its economy began to soar.[28] The Spanish–
American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a global military power.
The United States emerged from World War II as a global superpower, the first country to
develop nuclear weapons, the only country to use them in warfare, and as a permanent
member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the
dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower.[29]
The United States is a developed country and has the world's largest national economy.[7]
The economy is fueled by an abundance of natural resources and high worker productivity.
[30]
While the U.S. economy is considered post-industrial, it continues to be one of the
world's largest manufacturers.[31] The country accounts for 37% of global military spending,
[32]
being the world's foremost economic and military power, a prominent political and
cultural force, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations.[33]

Contents
[hide]


1 Etymology



2 History
o 2.1 Native American and European contact
o 2.2 Settlements
o 2.3 Independence and expansion
o 2.4 Civil War and Reconstruction Era
o 2.5 Industrialization
o 2.6 World War I, Great Depression, and World War II
o 2.7 Cold War and civil rights era
o 2.8 Contemporary history



3 Geography, climate, and environment



4 Demographics
o 4.1 Population
o 4.2 Language
o 4.3 Religion
o 4.4 Family structure



5 Government and politics
o 5.1 Political divisions
o 5.2 Parties and elections
o 5.3 Foreign relations
o 5.4 Government finance


5.4.1 National debt



6 Military



7 Crime and law enforcement



8 Economy
o 8.1 Income, poverty and wealth



9 Infrastructure
o 9.1 Transportation
o 9.2 Energy



10 Science and technology



11 Education



12 Health



13 Culture
o 13.1 Mass media
o 13.2 Cinema
o 13.3 Comics
o 13.4 Music
o 13.5 Literature, philosophy, and the arts
o 13.6 Food
o 13.7 Sports



14 See also



15 References



16 Bibliography
o 16.1 Website sources



17 External links

Etymology
See also: Names for United States citizens
In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a world map on which
he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere "America" after the Italian explorer and
cartographer Amerigo Vespucci (Latin: Americus Vespucius).[34] The first documentary
evidence of the phrase "United States of America" is from a letter dated January 2, 1776,
written by Stephen Moylan, Esq., George Washington's aide-de-camp and Muster-Master
General of the Continental Army. Addressed to Lt. Col. Joseph Reed, Moylan expressed his
wish to carry the "full and ample powers of the United States of America" to Spain to assist
in the revolutionary war effort.[35]
The first publicly published evidence of the phrase "United States of America" was in an
anonymously written essay in The Virginia Gazette newspaper in Williamsburg, Virginia,
on April 6, 1776.[36][37] In June 1776, Thomas Jefferson included the phrase "UNITED
STATES OF AMERICA" in all capitalized letters in the headline of his "original Rough
draught" of the Declaration of Independence.[38][39] In the final Fourth of July version of the
Declaration, the pertinent section of the title was changed to read, "The unanimous

Declaration of the thirteen united States of America".[40] In 1777 the Articles of
Confederation announced, "The Stile of this Confederacy shall be 'The United States of
America'".[41]
The short form "United States" is also standard. Other common forms include the "U.S.",
the "U.S.A.", and "America". Colloquial names include the "U.S. of A." and,
internationally, the "States". "Columbia", a name popular in poetry and songs of the late
1700s,[42] derives its origin from Christopher Columbus; it appears in the name "District of
Columbia". In non-English languages, the name is frequently the translation of either the
"United States" or "United States of America", and colloquially as "America". In addition,
an abbreviation (e.g. USA) is sometimes used.[43]
The phrase "United States" was originally treated as plural, a description of a collection of
independent states—e.g., "the United States are"—including in the Thirteenth Amendment
to the United States Constitution, ratified in 1865. It became common to treat it as singular,
a single unit—e.g., "the United States is"—after the end of the Civil War. The singular form
is now standard; the plural form is retained in the idiom "these United States".[44] The
difference has been described as more significant than one of usage, but reflecting the
difference between a collection of states and a unit.[45]
The standard way to refer to a citizen of the United States is as an "American". "United
States", "American" and "U.S." are used to refer to the country adjectivally ("American
values", "U.S. forces"). "American" is rarely used in English to refer to subjects not
connected with the United States.[46]

History
Main articles: History of the United States and Timeline of United States history

Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764

Native American and European contact
Further information: Pre-Columbian era and Colonial history of the United States
The first North American settlers migrated from Siberia by way of the Bering land bridge
approximately 15,000 or more years ago.[22][47][48] Some, such as the pre-Columbian
Mississippian culture, developed advanced agriculture, grand architecture, and state-level
societies. After European explorers and traders made the first contacts, the native
population declined due to various reasons, including diseases such as smallpox and
measles,[49][50] intermarriage,[51] and violence.[52][53][54]
In the early days of colonization many settlers were subject to shortages of food, disease
and attacks from Native Americans. Native Americans were also often at war with
neighboring tribes and allied with Europeans in their colonial wars.[55] At the same time
however many natives and settlers came to depend on each other. Settlers traded for food
and animal pelts, natives for guns, ammunition and other European wares.[56] Natives taught
many settlers where, when and how to cultivate corn, beans and squash in the frontier.
European missionaries and others felt it was important to "civilize" the Indians and urged
them to concentrate on farming and ranching without depending on hunting and gathering.
[57][58]

Settlements
Further information: European colonization of the Americas and 13 colonies

Signing of the Mayflower Compact, 1620
After Columbus' first voyage to the New World in 1492 other explorers and settlement
followed into the Floridas and the American Southwest.[59][60] There were also some French
attempts to colonize the east coast, and later more successful settlements along the
Mississippi River. Successful English settlement on the eastern coast of North America
began with the Virginia Colony in 1607 at Jamestown and the Pilgrims' Plymouth Colony
in 1620. Early experiments in communal living failed until the introduction of private farm
holdings.[61] Many settlers were dissenting Christian groups who came seeking religious
freedom. The continent's first elected legislative assembly, Virginia's House of Burgesses
created in 1619, and the Mayflower Compact, signed by the Pilgrims before disembarking,

established precedents for the pattern of representative self-government and
constitutionalism that would develop throughout the American colonies.[62][63]
Most settlers in every colony were small farmers, but other industries developed. Cash
crops included tobacco, rice and wheat. Extraction industries grew up in furs, fishing and
lumber. Manufacturers produced rum and ships, and by the late colonial period Americans
were producing one-seventh of the world's iron supply.[64] Cities eventually dotted the coast
to support local economies and serve as trade hubs. English colonists were supplemented
by waves of Scotch-Irish and other groups. As coastal land grew more expensive freed
indentured servants pushed further west.[65] Slave cultivation of cash crops began with the
Spanish in the 1500s, and was adopted by the English, but life expectancy was much higher
in North America because of less disease and better food and treatment, so the numbers of
slaves grew rapidly.[66][67][68] Colonial society was largely divided over the religious and moral
implications of slavery and colonies passed acts for and against the practice.[69][70] But by the
turn of the 18th century, African slaves were replacing indentured servants for cash crop
labor, especially in southern regions.[71]
With the colonization of Georgia in 1732, the 13 colonies that would become the United
States of America were established.[72] All had local governments with elections open to
most free men, with a growing devotion to the ancient rights of Englishmen and a sense of
self-government stimulating support for republicanism.[73] With extremely high birth rates,
low death rates, and steady settlement, the colonial population grew rapidly. Relatively
small Native American populations were eclipsed.[74] The Christian revivalist movement of
the 1730s and 1740s known as the Great Awakening fueled interest in both religion and
religious liberty.
In the French and Indian War, British forces seized Canada from the French, but the
francophone population remained politically isolated from the southern colonies. Excluding
the Native Americans, who were being conquered and displaced, those 13 colonies had a
population of over 2.1 million in 1770, about one-third that of Britain. Despite continuing
new arrivals, the rate of natural increase was such that by the 1770s only a small minority
of Americans had been born overseas.[75] The colonies' distance from Britain had allowed
the development of self-government, but their success motivated monarchs to periodically
seek to reassert royal authority.

Independence and expansion

The Declaration of Independence: the Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
Further information: American Revolutionary War, United States Declaration of
Independence and American Revolution
The American Revolutionary War was the first successful colonial war of independence
against a European power. Americans had developed an ideology of "republicanism" that
held government rested on the will of the people as expressed in their local legislatures.
They demanded their rights as Englishmen, “no taxation without representation”. The
British insisted on administering the empire through Parliament, and the conflict escalated
into war.[76] Following the passage of the Lee Resolution, on July 2, 1776, which was the
actual vote for independence, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, on
July 4, which proclaimed, in a long preamble, that humanity is created equal in their
unalienable rights and that those rights were not being protected by Great Britain, and
finally declared, in the words of the resolution, that the 13 colonies were independent states
and had no allegiance to the British crown in the United States. The latter date, July 4,
1776, is now celebrated annually as America's Independence Day. In 1777, the Articles of
Confederation established a weak government that operated until 1789.[77]
Britain recognized the independence of the United States following their defeat at
Yorktown.[78] In the peace treaty of 1783, American sovereignty was recognized from the
Atlantic coast west to the Mississippi River. Nationalists led the Philadelphia Convention of
1787 in writing the United States Constitution, and it was ratified in state conventions in
1788. The federal government was reorganized into three branches, on the principle of
creating salutary checks and balances, in 1789. George Washington, who had led the
revolutionary army to victory, was the first president elected under the new constitution.
The Bill of Rights, forbidding federal restriction of personal freedoms and guaranteeing a
range of legal protections, was adopted in 1791.[79]
Although the federal government criminalized the international slave trade in 1808, after
1820 cultivation of the highly profitable cotton crop exploded in the Deep South, and along
with it the slave population.[80][81][82] The Second Great Awakening, beginning about 1800,
converted millions to evangelical Protestantism. In the North it energized multiple social
reform movements, including abolitionism;[83] in the South, Methodists and Baptists
proselytized among slave populations.[84]
Americans' eagerness to expand westward prompted a long series of Indian Wars.[85] The
Louisiana Purchase of French-claimed territory in 1803 almost doubled the nation's size.[86]
The War of 1812, declared against Britain over various grievances and fought to a draw,
strengthened U.S. nationalism.[87] A series of U.S. military incursions into Florida led Spain
to cede it and other Gulf Coast territory in 1819.[88] Expansion was aided by steam power,
when steamboats began traveling along America's large water systems, which were
connected by new canals, such as the Erie and the I&M; then, even faster railroads began
their stretch across the nation's land.[89]

U.S. territorial acquisitions–portions of each territory were granted statehood since the 18th
century.
From 1820 to 1850, Jacksonian democracy began a set of reforms which included wider
male suffrage, and it led to the rise of the Second Party System of Democrats and Whigs as
the dominant parties from 1828 to 1854. The Trail of Tears in the 1830s exemplified the
Indian removal policy that moved Indians into the west to their own reservations. The U.S.
annexed the Republic of Texas in 1845 during a period of expansionist Manifest Destiny.[90]
The 1846 Oregon Treaty with Britain led to U.S. control of the present-day American
Northwest.[91] Victory in the Mexican-American War resulted in the 1848 Mexican Cession
of California and much of the present-day American Southwest.[92]
The California Gold Rush of 1848–49 spurred western migration and the creation of
additional western states.[93] After the American Civil War, new transcontinental railways
made relocation easier for settlers, expanded internal trade and increased conflicts with
Native Americans.[94] Over a half-century, the loss of the buffalo was an existential blow to
many Plains Indians cultures.[95] In 1869, a new Peace Policy sought to protect NativeAmericans from abuses, avoid further warfare, and secure their eventual U.S. citizenship.[96]

Civil War and Reconstruction Era
Further information: American Civil War and Reconstruction Era

Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania during the Civil War
From the beginning of the United States, inherent divisions over slavery between the North
and the South in American society ultimately led to the American Civil War.[97] Initially,
states entering the Union alternated between slave and free states, keeping a sectional
balance in the Senate, while free states outstripped slave states in population and in the
House of Representatives. But with additional western territory and more free-soil states,

tensions between slave and free states mounted with arguments over federalism and
disposition of the territories, whether and how to expand or restrict slavery.[98]
Following the 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln, the first president from the largely antislavery Republican Party, conventions in thirteen states ultimately declared secession and
formed the Confederate States of America, while the U.S. federal government maintained
secession was illegal.[98] The ensuing war was at first for Union, then after 1863 as casualties
mounted and Lincoln delivered his Emancipation Proclamation, a second war aim became
abolition of slavery. The war remains the deadliest military conflict in American history,
resulting in the deaths of approximately 618,000 soldiers as well as many civilians.[99]
Following the Union victory in 1865, three amendments to the U.S. Constitution prohibited
slavery, made the nearly four million African Americans who had been slaves[100] U.S.
citizens, and promised them voting rights. The war and its resolution led to a substantial
increase in federal power[101] aimed at reintegrating and rebuilding the Southern states while
ensuring the rights of the newly freed slaves.[102] But following the Reconstruction Era,
throughout the South Jim Crow laws soon effectively disenfranchised most blacks and
some poor whites. Over the subsequent decades, in both the north and south blacks and
some whites faced systemic discrimination, including racial segregation and occasional
vigilante violence, sparking national movements against these abuses.[102]

Industrialization
Further information: Labor history of the United States

Ellis Island, in New York City, was a major gateway for the massive influx of immigration
during the beginning of industrialization.
In the North, urbanization and an unprecedented influx of immigrants from Southern and
Eastern Europe supplied a surplus of labor for the country's industrialization and
transformed its culture.[103] National infrastructure including telegraph and transcontinental
railroads spurred economic growth and greater settlement and development of the
American Old West. The later invention of electric lights and telephones would also impact
communication and urban life.[104] The end of the Indian Wars further expanded acreage
under mechanical cultivation, increasing surpluses for international markets. Mainland
expansion was completed by the Alaska Purchase from Russia in 1867. In 1898 the U.S.
entered the world stage with important sugar production and strategic facilities acquired in
Hawaii. Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines were ceded by Spain in the same year,
following the Spanish American War.

Rapid economic development at the end of the 19th century produced many prominent
industrialists, and the U.S. economy became the world's largest. Dramatic changes were
accompanied by social unrest and the rise of populist, socialist, and anarchist movements.
[105]
This period eventually ended with the beginning of the Progressive Era, which saw
significant reforms in many societal areas, including women's suffrage, alcohol prohibition,
regulation of consumer goods, greater antitrust measures to ensure competition and
attention to worker conditions.

World War I, Great Depression, and World War II
Further information: World War I, Great Depression and World War II

U.S. troops approaching Omaha Beach during World War II
The United States remained neutral at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, though by
1917, it joined the Allies, helping to turn the tide against the Central Powers. President
Woodrow Wilson took a leading diplomatic role at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and
advocated strongly for the U.S. to join the League of Nations. However, the Senate refused
to approve this, and did not ratify the Treaty of Versailles that established the League of
Nations.[106]
In 1920, the women's rights movement won passage of a constitutional amendment
granting women's suffrage.[107] The 1920s and 1930s saw the rise of radio for mass
communication and the invention of early television.[108] The prosperity of the Roaring
Twenties ended with the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the onset of the Great Depression.
After his election as president in 1932, Franklin D. Roosevelt responded with the New
Deal, which included the establishment of the Social Security system.[109] The Great
Migration of millions of African Americans out of the American South began around WWI
and extended through the 1960s;[110] whereas, the Dust Bowl of the mid-1930s impoverished
many farming communities and spurred a new wave of western migration.[111]
The United States was at first effectively neutral during World War II's early stages but
began supplying material to the Allies in March 1941 through the Lend-Lease program. On
December 7, 1941, the Empire of Japan launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor,
prompting the United States to join the Allies against the Axis powers.[112] Though the nation
lost more than 400,000 soldiers,[113] it emerged relatively undamaged from the war with even
greater economic and military influence.[114] Allied conferences at Bretton Woods and Yalta
outlined a new system of international organizations that placed the United States and

Soviet Union at the center of world affairs. As an Allied victory was won in Europe, a 1945
international conference held in San Francisco produced the United Nations Charter, which
became active after the war.[115] The United States developed the first nuclear weapons and
used them on Japan; the Japanese surrendered on September 2, ending World War II.[116]

Cold War and civil rights era
Main articles: History of the United States (1945–64), History of the United States (1964–
80) and History of the United States (1980–91)

US President Ronald Reagan (left) and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev,
meeting in Geneva in 1985
After World War II the United States and the Soviet Union jockeyed for power during what
is known as the Cold War, driven by an ideological divide between capitalism and
communism. They dominated the military affairs of Europe, with the U.S. and its NATO
allies on one side and the USSR and its Warsaw Pact allies on the other. The U.S.
developed a policy of "containment" toward Soviet bloc expansion. While they engaged in
proxy wars and developed powerful nuclear arsenals, the two countries avoided direct
military conflict. The U.S. often opposed Third World left-wing movements that it viewed
as Soviet-sponsored. American troops fought Communist Chinese and North Korean forces
in the Korean War of 1950–53. The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the first artificial
satellite and its 1961 launch of the first manned spaceflight initiated a "Space Race" in
which the United States became the first to land a man on the moon in 1969.[117] A proxy war
was expanded in Southeast Asia with the Vietnam War beginning between 1954 and 1962
(depending on different sources) and ending in the mid-1970s[118].
At home, the U.S. experienced sustained economic expansion and a rapid growth of its
population and middle class. Construction of an interstate highway system transformed the
nation’s infrastructure over the following decades. Millions moved from farms and inner
cities to large suburban housing developments.[119][120] A growing civil rights movement used
nonviolence to confront segregation and discrimination, with Martin Luther King Jr.
becoming a prominent leader and figurehead. A combination of court decisions and
legislation, culminating in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, sought to end racial discrimination.
[121][122][123]
Meanwhile, a counterculture movement grew which was fueled by opposition to
the Vietnam war, black nationalism, and the sexual revolution. The launch of a "War on
Poverty" expanded entitlement and welfare spending.[124]

The 1970s and early 1980s saw the onset of stagflation. After his election in 1980,
President Ronald Reagan responded to economic stagnation with free-market oriented
reforms. Following the collapse of détente, he abandoned "containment" and initiated the
more aggressive "rollback" strategy towards the USSR.[125][126][127][128][129] After a surge in female
labor participation over the previous decade, by 1985 a majority of women age 16 and over
were employed.[130] The late 1980s brought a "thaw" in relations with the USSR, and its
collapse in 1991 finally ended the Cold War.[131][132][133][134]

Contemporary history

The former World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan on 9/11

One World Trade Center, built in its place
Main article: History of the United States (1991–present)
After the Cold War, the 1990s saw the longest economic expansion in modern U.S. history,
ending in 2001.[135] Originating in U.S. defense networks, the Internet spread to international
academic networks, and then to the public in the 1990s, greatly impacting the global
economy, society, and culture.[136] On September 11, 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists struck the
World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington, D.C., killing
nearly 3,000 people.[137] In response the United States launched the War on Terror, which
includes the ongoing war in Afghanistan and the 2003–11 Iraq War.[138][139] Barack Obama,
the first African-American,[140] and multiracial[141] president, was elected in 2008 amid the
Great Recession.[142]

Geography, climate, and environment
Main articles: Geography of the United States, Climate of the United States and
Environment of the United States

A composite satellite image of the contiguous United States and surrounding areas
The land area of the contiguous United States is 2,959,064 square miles (7,663,941 km2).
Alaska, separated from the contiguous United States by Canada, is the largest state at
663,268 square miles (1,717,856 km2). Hawaii, occupying an archipelago in the central
Pacific, southwest of North America, is 10,931 square miles (28,311 km2) in area.[143]
The United States is the world's third or fourth largest nation by total area (land and water),
ranking behind Russia and Canada and just above or below China. The ranking varies
depending on how two territories disputed by China and India are counted and how the
total size of the United States is measured: calculations range from 3,676,486 square miles
(9,522,055 km2)[144] to 3,717,813 square miles (9,629,091 km2)[145] to 3,794,101 square miles
(9,826,676 km2).[146] to 3,805,927 square miles (9,857,306 km2).[147] Measured by only land
area, the United States is third in size behind Russia and China, just ahead of Canada.[148]
The coastal plain of the Atlantic seaboard gives way further inland to deciduous forests and
the rolling hills of the Piedmont. The Appalachian Mountains divide the eastern seaboard
from the Great Lakes and the grasslands of the Midwest. The Mississippi–Missouri River,
the world's fourth longest river system, runs mainly north–south through the heart of the
country. The flat, fertile prairie of the Great Plains stretches to the west, interrupted by a
highland region in the southeast.
The Rocky Mountains, at the western edge of the Great Plains, extend north to south across
the country, reaching altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m) in Colorado. Farther west
are the rocky Great Basin and deserts such as the Chihuahua and Mojave. The Sierra
Nevada and Cascade mountain ranges run close to the Pacific coast, both ranges reaching
altitudes higher than 14,000 feet (4,300 m). The lowest and highest points in the continental
United States are in the state of California, and only about 80 miles (130 km) apart. At
20,320 feet (6,194 m), Alaska's Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in the country and in
North America. Active volcanoes are common throughout Alaska's Alexander and Aleutian
Islands, and Hawaii consists of volcanic islands. The supervolcano underlying Yellowstone
National Park in the Rockies is the continent's largest volcanic feature.[149]
The United States, with its large size and geographic variety, includes most climate types.
To the east of the 100th meridian, the climate ranges from humid continental in the north to
humid subtropical in the south. The southern tip of Florida is tropical, as is Hawaii. The
Great Plains west of the 100th meridian are semi-arid. Much of the Western mountains are
alpine. The climate is arid in the Great Basin, desert in the Southwest, Mediterranean in
coastal California, and oceanic in coastal Oregon and Washington and southern Alaska.

Most of Alaska is subarctic or polar. Extreme weather is not uncommon—the states
bordering the Gulf of Mexico are prone to hurricanes, and most of the world's tornadoes
occur within the country, mainly in the Midwest's Tornado Alley.[150]

The bald eagle has been the national bird of the United States since 1782.
The U.S. ecology is considered "megadiverse": about 17,000 species of vascular plants
occur in the contiguous United States and Alaska, and over 1,800 species of flowering
plants are found in Hawaii, few of which occur on the mainland.[151] The United States is
home to more than 400 mammal, 750 bird, and 500 reptile and amphibian species.[152] About
91,000 insect species have been described.[153] The bald eagle is both the national bird and
national animal of the United States, and is an enduring symbol of the country itself.[154]
There are 58 national parks and hundreds of other federally managed parks, forests, and
wilderness areas.[155] Altogether, the government owns 28.8% of the country's land area.[156]
Most of this is protected, though some is leased for oil and gas drilling, mining, logging, or
cattle ranching; 2.4% is used for military purposes.[156][157][158]
Environmental issues have been on the national agenda since 1970. Environmental
controversies include debates on oil and nuclear energy, dealing with air and water
pollution, the economic costs of protecting wildlife, logging and deforestation,[159][160] and
international responses to global warming.[161][162] Many federal and state agencies are
involved. The most prominent is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), created by
presidential order in 1970.[163] The idea of wilderness has shaped the management of public
lands since 1964, with the Wilderness Act.[164] The Endangered Species Act of 1973 is
intended to protect threatened and endangered species and their habitats, which are
monitored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Demographics
Main articles: Demographics of the United States, Americans, List of U.S. states by
population density and List of United States cities by population

Population

Largest ancestry groups by county, 2000
Race/Ethnicity (2013)

By race:[165]

White

77.7%

African American

13.2%

Asian

5.3%

American Indian and Alaska

1.2%

Native
Native Hawaiian and Pacific

0.2%

Islander
Multiracial (2 or more)
By ethnicity:[165]

2.4%

Hispanic/Latino (of any race)

17.1%

Non-Hispanic/Latino (of any

82.9%

race)

The Statue of Liberty in New York City is a symbol of both the U.S. and the ideals of
freedom, democracy, and opportunity.[166]
The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the country's population now to be 319,003,000,[6] The
U.S. population almost quadrupled during the 20th century, from about 76 million in 1900.
[167]
The third most populous nation in the world, after China and India, the United States is
the only major industrialized nation in which large population increases are projected.[168]
The United States has a very diverse population—31 ancestry groups have more than one
million members.[169] German Americans are the largest ethnic group (more than 50 million)
- followed by Irish Americans (circa 35 million), Mexican Americans (circa 31 million) and
English Americans (circa 27 million).[170]
White Americans are the largest racial group; Black Americans are the nation's largest
racial minority and third largest ancestry group.[169] Asian Americans are the country's
second largest racial minority; the three largest Asian American ethnic groups are Chinese
Americans, Filipino Americans, and Indian Americans.[169]
With a birth rate of 13 per 1,000, 35% below the world average, its population growth rate
is positive at 0.9%, significantly higher than those of many developed nations.[171] In fiscal
year 2012, over one million immigrants (most of whom entered through family
reunification) were granted legal residence.[172] Mexico has been the leading source of new
residents since the 1965 Immigration Act. China, India, and the Philippines have been in
the top four sending countries every year.[173][174] As of 2012, approximately 11.4 million
residents are illegal immigrants.[175]
According to a survey conducted by the Williams Institute, nine million Americans, or
roughly 3.5% of the adult population identify themselves as homosexual, bisexual, or
transgender.[176] A 2012 Gallup poll also concluded that 3.5% of adult Americans identified
as LGBT. The highest percentage came from the District of Columbia (10%), while the
lowest state was North Dakota at 1.7%.[177]

In 2010, the U.S. population included an estimated 5.2 million people with some American
Indian or Alaska Native ancestry (2.9 million exclusively of such ancestry) and 1.2 million
with some native Hawaiian or Pacific island ancestry (0.5 million exclusively).[178] The
census counted more than 19 million people of "Some Other Race" who were "unable to
identify with any" of its five official race categories in 2010.[178]
The population growth of Hispanic and Latino Americans (the terms are officially
interchangeable) is a major demographic trend. The 50.5 million Americans of Hispanic
descent[178] are identified as sharing a distinct "ethnicity" by the Census Bureau; 64% of
Hispanic Americans are of Mexican descent.[179] Between 2000 and 2010, the country's
Hispanic population increased 43% while the non-Hispanic population rose just 4.9%.[180]
Much of this growth is from immigration; in 2007, 12.6% of the U.S. population was
foreign-born, with 54% of that figure born in Latin America.[181]
Fertility is also a factor; in 2010 the average Hispanic (of any race) woman gave birth to
2.35 children in her lifetime, compared to 1.97 for non-Hispanic black women and 1.79 for
non-Hispanic white women (both below the replacement rate of 2.1).[182] Minorities (as
defined by the Census Bureau as all those beside non-Hispanic, non-multiracial whites)
constituted 36.3% of the population in 2010,[183] and over 50% of children under age one,[184]
and are projected to constitute the majority by 2042.[185] This contradicts the report by the
National Vital Statistics Reports, based on the U.S. census data, which concludes that 54%
(2,162,406 out of 3,999,386 in 2010) of births were non-Hispanic white.[182]
About 82% of Americans live in urban areas (including suburbs);[146] about half of those
reside in cities with populations over 50,000.[186] In 2008, 273 incorporated places had
populations over 100,000, nine cities had more than one million residents, and four global
cities had over two million (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston).[187] There
are 52 metropolitan areas with populations greater than one million.[188] Of the 50 fastestgrowing metro areas, 47 are in the West or South.[189] The metro areas of Dallas, Houston,
Atlanta, and Phoenix all grew by more than a million people between 2000 and 2008.[188]
Leading population centers (see complete list)

Rank

1

Core city

Metro area

Metropolitan

(cities)

population

Statistical Area

New York City 19,949,502

Mid-

Newark-Jersey

Atlantic

MSA

view



talk



edit

Region[190]

New YorkCity, NY-NJ-PA



New York City

2

Los Angeles

13,131,431

Los Angeles–

West

Long Beach–
Santa Ana, CA
MSA
3

Chicago

9,537,289

Chicago–Joliet–

Midwest

Naperville, IL–

Los Angeles

IN–WI MSA
4

Dallas–Fort

6,810,913

Worth

Dallas–Fort

South

Worth–Arlington,
TX MSA

5

Houston

6,313,158

Houston–The

South

Woodlands-Sugar
Land MSA
6

Philadelphia

6,034,678

Philadelphia–

Mid-

Camden–

Atlantic

Wilmington, PA–
NJ–DE–MD MSA
7

Washington,

5,949,859

D.C.

Washington, DC–

Mid-

VA–MD–WV

Atlantic

MSA
8

Miami

5,828,191

Miami–Fort

South

Lauderdale–
Pompano Beach,
FL MSA
9

Atlanta

5,522,942

Atlanta–Sandy

South

Springs–Marietta,
GA MSA
10

Boston

4,684,299

Boston–

Northeast

Cambridge–
Quincy, MA–NH
MSA
11

San Francisco

4,516,276

San Francisco–
Oakland–

West

Chicago

Fremont, CA
MSA
12

Phoenix

4,398,762

Phoenix–Mesa–

West

Glendale, AZ
MSA
13

San

4,380,878

Bernardino-

Detroit

West

Riverside–

Riverside
14

San Bernandino–
Ontario, CA MSA

4,294,983

Detroit–Warren–

Midwest

Livonia, MI MSA
15

Seattle

3,610,105

Seattle–Tacoma–

West

Bellevue, WA
MSA
16

Minneapolis–

3,459,146

St. Paul

Minneapolis–St.

Midwest

Paul–
Bloomington,
MN–WI MSA

17

San Diego

3,211,252

San Diego–

West

Carlsbad–San
Marcos, CA MSA
18

Tampa–St.

2,870,569

Petersburg

Tampa–St.

South

Petersburg–
Clearwater, FL
MSA

19

St. Louis

2,810,056

St. Louis–St.

Midwest

Charles–
Farmington, MO–
IL MSA
20

Baltimore

2,770,738

Baltimore–

Mid-

Towson, MD

Atlantic

MSA
based upon 2013 population estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau[191]

Language
Languages spoken at home by more than 1,000,000 persons in the U.S.
as of 2010[192]
Percent of
Number of
Language
population
speakers
English
80%
233,780,338
Combined total of all languages
20%
57,048,617
other than English
Spanish
12%
35,437,985
(excluding Puerto Rico and Spanish Creole)
Chinese
0.9%
2,567,779
(including Cantonese and Mandarin)
Tagalog
0.5%
1,542,118
Vietnamese
0.4%
1,292,448
French
0.4%
1,288,833
Korean
0.4%
1,108,408
German
0.4%
1,107,869
Main article: Languages of the United States
See also: Language Spoken at Home and List of endangered languages in the United States
English (American English) is the de facto national language. Although there is no official
language at the federal level, some laws—such as U.S. naturalization requirements—
standardize English. In 2010, about 230 million, or 80% of the population aged five years
and older, spoke only English at home. Spanish, spoken by 12% of the population at home,
is the second most common language and the most widely taught second language.[193][194]
Some Americans advocate making English the country's official language, as it is in 28
states.[10]
Both Hawaiian and English are official languages in Hawaii, by state law.[195] While neither
has an official language, New Mexico has laws providing for the use of both English and
Spanish, as Louisiana does for English and French.[196] Other states, such as California,
mandate the publication of Spanish versions of certain government documents including
court forms.[197] Many jurisdictions with large numbers of non-English speakers produce
government materials, especially voting information, in the most commonly spoken
languages in those jurisdictions.
Several insular territories grant official recognition to their native languages, along with
English: Samoan[198] and Chamorro[199] are recognized by American Samoa and Guam,
respectively; Carolinian and Chamorro are recognized by the Northern Mariana Islands;[200]
Cherokee is officially recognized by the Cherokee Nation within the Cherokee tribal

jurisdiction area in eastern Oklahoma;[201] Spanish is an official language of Puerto Rico and
is more widely spoken than English there.[202]

Religion
Main article: Religion in the United States
See also: History of religion in the United States, Freedom of religion in the United States,
Separation of church and state in the United States and List of religious movements that
began in the United States
Religious affiliation in the U.S. (2007)[203]
Affiliation
% of U.S. population
Christian

78.5

Evangelical Protestant

26.3

Catholic

23.9

Mainline Protestant

18.1

Black Protestant

6.9

Mormon

1.7

Other Christian

1.6

Judaism

1.7

Buddhism

0.7

Islam

0.6

Hinduism

0.4

Other faith

1.2

Unaffiliated

16.1

Don't know/refused answer
Total

0.8
100

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion and
forbids Congress from passing laws respecting its establishment. Christianity is by far the

most common religion practiced in the U.S., but other religions are followed, too. In a 2013
survey, 56% of Americans said that religion played a "very important role in their lives", a
far higher figure than that of any other wealthy nation.[204] In a 2009 Gallup poll 42% of
Americans said that they attended church weekly or almost weekly; the figures ranged from
a low of 23% in Vermont to a high of 63% in Mississippi.[205] As with other Western
countries, the U.S. is becoming less religious. Irreligion is growing rapidly among
Americans under 30.[206] Polls show that overall American confidence in organized religion
is declining,[207] and that younger Americans in particular are becoming increasingly
irreligious.[208]
According to a 2014 survey, 78.5% of adults identified themselves as Christian,[209]
Protestant denominations accounted for 51.3%, while Roman Catholicism, at 23.9%, was
the largest individual denomination.[210] The total reporting non-Christian religions in 2012
was 4.9%, up from 4% in 2007.[210] Other religions include Judaism (1.7%), Buddhism
(0.7%), Islam (0.6%), Hinduism (0.4%), and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%).[210] The survey
also reported that 16.1% of Americans described themselves as agnostic, atheist or simply
having no religion, up from 8.2% in 1990.[210][211][212] There are also Baha'i, Sikh, Jain, Shinto,
Confucian, Taoist, Druid, Native American, Wiccan, humanist and deist communities.[213]
Protestantism is the largest group of religions in the United States, with Baptists being the
largest Protestant sect, and the Southern Baptist Convention being the largest Protestant
denomination in the U.S. About 19 percent of Protestants are Evangelical, while 15 percent
are mainline and 8 percent belong to a traditionally Black church. Roman Catholicism in
the U.S. has its origin in the Spanish and French colonization of the Americas, and later
grew due to Irish, Italian, Polish, German and Hispanic immigration. Rhode Island is the
only state where the majority of the population is Catholic. Lutheranism in the U.S. has its
origin in immigration from Northern Europe. North and South Dakota are the only states in
which a plurality of the population is Lutheran. Utah is the only state where Mormonism is
the religion of the majority of the population. Mormonism is also relatively common in
parts of Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming.
The Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the Southern United States in which
socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and
Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's
average. By contrast, religion plays the least important role in New England and in the
Western United States.[205]

Family structure
Main article: Family structure in the United States
See also: Anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, Same-sex marriage in the United
States and Cousin marriage in the United States
In 2007, 58% of Americans age 18 and over were married, 6% were widowed, 10% were
divorced, and 25% had never been married.[214] Women now work mostly outside the home
and receive a majority of bachelor's degrees.[215]

The U.S. teenage pregnancy rate, 79.8 per 1,000 women, is the highest among OECD
nations.[216] Between 2007 and 2010, the highest teenage birth rate was in Mississippi, and
the lowest in New Hampshire.[217] Abortion is legal throughout the U.S., owing to Roe v.
Wade, a 1973 landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court. While the abortion
rate is falling, the abortion ratio of 241 per 1,000 live births and abortion rate of 15 per
1,000 women aged 15–44 remain higher than those of most Western nations.[218] In 2011, the
average age at first birth was 25.6 and 40.7% of births were to unmarried women.[219] The
total fertility rate (TFR) was estimated for 2013 at 1.86 births per woman.[220] Adoption in
the United States is common and relatively easy from a legal point of view (compared to
other Western countries).[221] In 2001, with over 127,000 adoptions, the U.S. accounted for
nearly half of the total number of adoptions worldwide.[222] The legal status of same-sex
couples adopting varies by jurisdiction. Polygamy is illegal throughout the U.S.[223]

Government and politics
Main articles: Federal government of the United States, State governments of the United
States, Local government in the United States and Elections in the United States

U.S. Capitol,
where Congress meets:
the Senate, left; the House, right

The White House, home of the U.S. President

Supreme Court Building, where the nation's highest court sits
The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic
and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights
protected by law".[224] The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances
defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document.[225]
For 2013, the U.S. ranked 19th on the Democracy Index[226] and 19th on the Corruption
Perceptions Index.[227]
In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of
government: federal, state, and local. The local government's duties are commonly split

between county and municipal governments. In almost all cases, executive and legislative
officials are elected by a plurality vote of citizens by district. There is no proportional
representation at the federal level, and it is very rare at lower levels.[228]

Political system of the United States
The federal government is composed of three branches:


Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power
of the purse,[229] and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting
members of the government.[230]



Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto
legislative bills before they become law (subject to Congressional override), and
appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers,
who administer and enforce federal laws and policies.[231]



Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed
by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find
unconstitutional.[232]

The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional
district for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population
every tenth year. At the 2010 census, seven states had the minimum of one representative,
while California, the most populous state, had 53.[233]
The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to sixyear terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president
serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president
is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the
determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia.[234] The

Supreme Court, led by the Chief Justice of the United States, has nine members, who serve
for life.[235]
The state governments are structured in roughly similar fashion; Nebraska uniquely has a
unicameral legislature.[236] The governor (chief executive) of each state is directly elected.
Some state judges and cabinet officers are appointed by the governors of the respective
states, while others are elected by popular vote.
The original text of the Constitution establishes the structure and responsibilities of the
federal government and its relationship with the individual states. Article One protects the
right to the "great writ" of habeas corpus. The Constitution has been amended 27 times;[237]
the first ten amendments, which make up the Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment
form the central basis of Americans' individual rights. All laws and governmental
procedures are subject to judicial review and any law ruled by the courts to be in violation
of the Constitution is voided. The principle of judicial review, not explicitly mentioned in
the Constitution, was established by the Supreme Court in Marbury v. Madison (1803)[238] in
a decision handed down by Chief Justice John Marshall.[239]

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